Iced Cap
by Thorkone
Summary: Lex struggles to learn the extent of her new powers. Lex & Steve one-shot


I was sitting at the kitchen table, staring into my coffee blankly. I should have known better than to do it, but I had been pulled from the Initiative to work on an outbreak of a suspicious rash and suspected poisoning in upstate New York and I hadn't slept much in the past week. I was bone-weary. Completely exhausted. And prone to zoning out into my coffee. I lifted the cup to my mouth and it wouldn't pour. Of course it wouldn't pour. I'd zoned out and accidentally fucking frozen it. Again. I pushed it across the table beside three other mugs of caffeinesicle and sighed. I dropped my forehead to the table and thumped it on the bare wood, once, twice, three times, trying to prevent myself from screaming in frustration.

Steve wandered into the kitchen in his towel, fresh from his shower. He looked at me, and then looked at the coffee mugs. Without a word, he poured a fresh cup and put it in front of me. He poured one for himself and sat down across from me.

"Talk to me while you drink it, Lex," he prompted.

"About what? How gross this weird rash is? I can't even conceptualize how it's not contagious. It's weeping and stinky. The quarantine ward stinks like a slaughterhouse on an August afternoon." I took a long swallow of coffee. It was too hot, and it burned all the way down. I didn't even care.

"That is a horrible and disgusting mental picture you just painted," Steve stood up to retrieve his toast from the toaster.

"Sorry. I'm terrible company right now," I admitted.

"Nah, you're just tired. Maybe it's worse because I know the smell you're talking about." He dragged a thin skiff of butter across his toast and sat back down. A stray drop of water trailed from his shoulder along his collarbone and down between his pecs. I hated that drop of water. I'd been refusing to touch Steve since the outbreak started, and despite calling it over on my last shift, I still worried that I might have picked it up and could be spreading it. I was even sleeping in the spare room, with the full intention of burning the linens. The patients were finally responding to antibiotic treatment, so I was hopeful that I wouldn't need to go back to the quarantine ward. My 'special physiology', as Director Fury put it, made me the best person for the job. He was certain I wouldn't catch it, even if it had been contagious. Unfortunately, I tended to agree. I hadn't even had a case of the sniffles since Loki had infected me with his genetic code. But that didn't mean I wouldn't be a walking vector.

"I need to sleep," I groaned and pushed myself to my feet. Steve stood up too.

"Want me to do anything?" He asked.

"Stop being so damn sexy for another 48 hours," I muttered as I walked towards my bed. I heard him laugh and sit back down.

XXX

"Dr. Lexy, do the thing," Tony thrust a cup of coffee into my hands. I quirked an eyebrow at him and put the cup down on the table.

"It's not a party trick, Tony," I sighed and sat down, refusing to even glance at the coffee cup.

"Don't be like that. Do the thing with the coffee. It's hot out. I was hoping for an iced coffee," he teased. I rolled my eyes and went back to work analyzing information from the outbreak. He stared at me expectantly, standing that fraction of an inch too close. I pushed my breath out across my soft palate, making an annoyed noise. Tony stepped closer.

"You know, I often wonder if I can freeze any fluid," I pondered aloud. "Like, could I freeze blood as it pumped through someone's veins?" I shot a pointed look at him and met his gaze. His eyes narrowed like he was calling my bluff, but he stepped away. I took a sip of my own coffee, but it was too hot. I blew across it gently and took another sip but I'd made it too cold. I sighed heavily and drank it anyhow.

"More seriously, Lexy, do you think you could draw the moisture out of the air and make ice cubes out of nothing?" Tony asked. I looked up to glare at him, and found that he was sitting back on his stool, relaxed and looking off into space. Like he was actually thinking about the uses of my freakish power. I shrugged.

"I've never thought about it. It feels like it really is just a party trick, to be honest. And stop calling me Lexy."

"Do you have any real control over it?" He pressed.

"Not when I'm tired. When I'm tired I freeze everything I touch that has fluid in it. But the rest of the time it really needs to be a deliberate attempt to freeze something. Last time Thor was here, he told me how the frost giants can form weapons out of ice just by willing them into existence. He said he's never seen Loki do it, but that that doesn't mean he can't. He was surprised I didn't have more magic." I sat back in my chair. When Tony started asking questions, it usually meant his brain had kicked into high gear and I still had a hard time keeping up.

"Could you freeze the bathtub?" he asked.

"I've never tried," I admitted.

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll set up a trial and see what all you can freeze. You should know what you are capable of." Tony was already planning things out in his head. I shook my own and went back to my work.

XXX

"Why does he care though?" I asked Steve for a millionth time as we walked into the lobby of the Avengers Tower. We'd stopped at the Tim Hortons in Grand Central Station so I could get an Iced Cappuccino and I was secretly amused that the cup said 'Iced Cap' as I held hands with Captain America. I was taken with the absurdity of it, and sucked loudly on my straw. Steve sighed and I started to giggle.

"He cares because he's not specially powered, Lex. He's curious. He sees the asset you could be to the Avengers," Steve explained. "I don't necessarily agree with him, but we should know what you are capable of."

I looked at my cup and giggled again. "Okay."

"What is so damn funny?" Steve looked lost and puzzled.

"Sorry. It's just, uh…" I trailed off. "I'm drinking an Iced Cap. You're also an Iced Cap. It struck me as funny."

"You haven't caught up on your sleep since the outbreak, have you?" Steve asked. I could see the beginnings of a smile at the corners of his mouth. Obviously the humour hadn't been lost on him either. We stepped off the elevator into the lab. Tony had progressively larger containers holding what appeared to be a variety of different liquids in them, including what appeared to be an inflatable hot tub that was already up to heat and bubbling, if the steam coming off it was any indication. Tony sidled up to us and gave Steve the side-eye.

"Iced Cap and iced cap. That's funny," he tilted his head at my cup and then over to Steve.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed. "I think Steve thinks I'm weird."

"You are weird. But not because you saw the humour in that. That was funny," Tony reassured me.

Tony Stark was nothing if not a consummate showman. He spread his arms in a broad gesture to introduce his 'course'. For all his laid back, smart-ass nature, he was also a scientist, and had actually thought through a number of hypotheses about what might and might not work. He had me start small, with cups of coffee and glasses of water, and then move up to larger containers, like a pickle jar, or one-gallon milk jug. I started to struggle at the 5-gallon water cooler bottle. It was exhausting focusing on that much water, and it only got chilled. The slightly smaller container of coffee turned to slush easily. I sat down, worn thin, and picked my iced cap up. It was mostly melted. With the last of my energy, I re-slushed it.

"Well, if nothing else, that's a handy skill to have," Tony chuckled and sat down beside me.

"Not exactly one of the superfriends, am I?" I chuckled. I felt tired into my bones.

"Maybe it's something you work on and get better," Steve suggested.

"Or it's a really weak skill because I'm some weird corruption of human and Jotun DNA," I argued. I felt a little relieved and at the same time, disappointed.

"You're talking like you aren't special, Lexy. Which is ridiculous. You have accelerated healing, and amplified strength, both of which are things normal people would kill for. Ask me how I know this," Tony deadpanned. "Wait, it's because I'm normal people. Besides, there's a lucrative side career as a frozen coffee specialty barista there if you think about it."

I couldn't help but laugh. There was nothing normal about Tony Stark, but he made a good point. The burden of responsibility that came with the freezing thing was immense and sometimes, when I was trying unsuccessfully to sleep at night, overwhelming. I was just as happy not developing it and minimizing the risk of being used as a pawn in some game of superheroes.

"Thanks, Tony."

"Yeah, no problem," he shrugged.

"Got anything left for a run, Lex?" Steve had a sense to him, like he could smell when I needed to get away from things and be in my head for a while. I nodded and headed toward the elevator.

"Lexy, think of this: Iced Caps with Iced Cap! You could sponsor meet and greets and make thousands!" Tony called as the elevator doors slid shut.


End file.
